


I'll Be Seeing You - Epilogue

by DizzyDrea



Series: A Timeless Romance [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alzheimer's Disease, Angst, F/M, Gen, Memory Loss, Romance, Time Travel, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9129124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DizzyDrea/pseuds/DizzyDrea
Summary: Maria finally pays a visit to the one person she should.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to include this epilogue to _I'll Be Seeing You_ when I originally posted it, but it just didn't fit with the way that story ended. Now that I've posted the sequel, I think it's the right time to share this as it was originally intended. 
> 
> Also, I've added a series page for these stories, so they're now all collected in one place. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Captain America and The Avengers and all its particulars are the property of Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios, Joss Whedon, The Russo Brothers and a lot of other people who arenít me. I am doing this for fun and for practice. Mostly for fun.

~o~

Maria pauses by the door, uncertain now that the moment is upon her. The facility director lays a hand on her arm and gives her an encouraging smile.

"She's lucid most days, but she tends to lapse in and out of awareness," she says. "She may not remember you at all, but then again, she just might surprise you."

"Thanks," Maria says, flashing a weak smile.

She still isn't sure this is a good idea, but she and Steve had talked about this. She remembered him, the last time he went to visit, even though she lapsed about halfway through the visit and cried when she'd realized that Steve was alive. Again. It had broken Maria's heart, hearing Steve talk about that visit, but she knows that he had to go. He needed closure, and the only way he was going to get it was by visiting Peggy.

Maria squares her shoulders, feeling not unlike she did the first time she'd had to report to Fury's office to face his wrath for something she hadn't even done. The feeling isn't reassuring.

She turns the knob and steps inside, noticing the sun pouring in from the wide windows beyond the bed. The director had said that Peggy tended to be more lucid in the mornings, when the cares of the day hadn't yet had time to weigh her down. She notices the details, mementos scattered around the room in an attempt to keep her memory sharp, futile though it is.

It's when she looks at the woman in the bed that her breath catches. Peggy Carter looks so much more frail than Maria ever imagined she could. Her hair is a white cloud on the pillow, and she's sallow and shrunken, hidden under a pile of blankets. Maria almost runs from the room, but hearing the click of the door shutting stills her.

Peggy's eyes open, and she's faced with a knowing gaze peering out from brown eyes that don't appear any less sharp than they did a few weeks ago, when she'd last seen them in 1945.

"Maria," Peggy says, her voice small and weak. "I'd recognize you anywhere. Come to pay your respects to an old woman?"

Maria shakes her head and makes her way across the room, standing beside the bed. "More like wondering how you get away with lazing about in bed all day."

Peggy chuckles. "They don't like it when I get loose. Gives them fits, but I show them. I'm not as old and weak as they think I am."

Maria would like to agree, but she thinks Peggy wouldn't thank her for the lie so she just keeps quiet.

"You don't have to look so maudlin," Peggy says. She waves a hand at the spare chair beside the bed. "Sit. Tell me all about it."

"Tell you about what?" Maria asks as she dutifully takes a seat. 

"Come now," Peggy scoffs. "I may be old, and my memory may not be what it once was, but even I know you shouldn't look as if you just stepped off a transport from 1945. So, spill. Was it time travel? Or did you wind up in the ice with Steve?"

Maria just stares at Peggy, shocked. Steve had described a woman who couldn't remember her own name most days, one who'd recognize you one moment and wonder who you were the next.

"I—how do you—" Maria huffs and falls back into the chair. "Steve made it sound like you didn't remember he'd survived halfway through his last visit."

Peggy purses her lips for a moment, eyes closed as if she's concentrating on bringing up the right memory. When she opens them again, she's no less calm, but perhaps maybe a little distressed.

"It wasn't one of my better days, I'm afraid," she says, shrugging. "I remember his visit, but not much else. It's hard, some days. The staff have to remind me of things that I should know myself. I'm tired. So very tired."

"I shouldn't have come," Maria mutters. She makes to get up, but like a shot, Peggy's got a hand clamped on her arm, holding her in a grip that's surprisingly strong for a woman so frail.

"Nonsense," Peggy says. When Maria resettles, Peggy lets go, patting her arm before returning to fold with the other on top of the covers. "Now, you still haven't answered my question. How did you come to be here today? Or perhaps the more salient question is, how did you come to be in 1945?"

"There was… a device," Maria says. "We found it during a raid. It got set off while I was in the room. When I came to, I found myself in 1945, being rescued from the Nazi's by Captain America."

Peggy chuckles. "My, what a wonderful thing that must have been. It's no wonder you two were thick as thieves."

"It wasn't—"

"I may be an old woman, but I'm not stupid," Peggy says. "I could see how you two looked at each other. You always looked at him like he was someone you knew, but yet didn't know. There was always the faintest frown on your face, like you were having difficulty figuring something out. And Steve… well, he looked at you the way he looked at me. Like you hung the moon."

"I tried hard not to come between you," Maria says, blushing faintly. "I wanted to believe that he'd get his happy ending with you."

"And yet it wasn't meant to be," Peggy says. When Maria opens her mouth to apologize, Peggy cuts her off. "Please, it's been too many years for me to resent that I missed my chance with him. It was enough to know I was special to him, for a time. That he holds memories of me among his fondest."

"He does," Maria says, as if Peggy needs or wants the confirmation from her.

"And did you two get yourselves sorted?"

Maria smiles. This woman pulls no punches.

"Yes, we did," she says.

"Good," Peggy says. "I'd hate to have to send someone to set him straight. Or you, for that matter. And don't think I won't if you ever hurt him."

"Good to know," Maria says, because what else does one say when a 90+ year old woman gives you the shovel talk?

"Steve Rogers is a special person," Peggy says. "Treasure your time together, because you're not promised more than the here and now."

"I promise," Maria says. She leans forward and takes Peggy's hand, squeezing gently. "I promise I'll take good care of him."

"See that you do," Peggy says. Her eyes dip closed for a moment before they flutter open again. "Oh, hello. Who are you?"

Maria's heart clenches. She squeezes Peggy's hand, then pats it gently. "Just a friend of your family. They asked me to check in on you. See how you're doing."

"Ah," Peggy says. "Well, as you can see, I’m a bit tired. You don't mind if I take a nap, do you?"

"No, go right ahead," Maria says. "I'll just sit here a while and read."

"That's a good dear," Peggy murmurs as she drops off.

Maria sits and watches the older woman sleep for a time before she rises and heads for the door. When she looks back, it's to see that same frail, white-haired woman under a pile of blankets, nearly disappearing under them. Her heart breaks for the memory of a woman so vibrant and tough, reduced to a prisoner in her own bed.

She's always known she might die in battle one day. A person in her line of work can't expect to live to a ripe old age. Except Peggy did, though Maria imagines that this would not be how Peggy would have preferred to spend her twilight years. It's not how Maria would want to spend her remaining years on earth, but she knows it's not really up to her.

And now that she and Steve are together, she'd rather not die an early death at all. She wants to spend the rest of her life, however long or short it may be, with the man who's become the love of her life. And if she ends up like Peggy one day, at least she'll have had a full life, filled with love and the memories of their time together. It's more than Peggy has, and while she may feel selfish for thinking it, she's not going to apologize. 

It may not be much, but it's more than she had the day she travelled back in time. And she's determined to hang on to it for as long as she can. 

~Finis


End file.
